Marsha Blackburn

President Donald Trump’s Tuesday evening trip to Nashville for a Marsh Blackburn fundraiser has been preceded by more national media reporting on Tennessee’s U.S. Senate race, including a Washington Post report suggesting women voters could tilt the race in Democrat Phil Bredesen’s favor.

The article begins with a question posed to Blackburn during a campaign event at the Cumberland County town of Fairfield Glade.

“How as a woman can you support Donald Trump?” asked Marcia Storrison, a Democratic retiree in this heavily Republican area of hilly green golf courses. “His lies! I believe in facts. . . . I don’t understand how a woman can be supportive of what is going on.”

“Trump is working very hard for us,” replied the Republican congresswoman, touting his record on jobs and the economy.

U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn gets a mention in a Washington Post report on political consequences facing members of Congress who supported 2016 legislation “that hampered the Drug Enforcement Administration’s enforcement efforts against the opioid industry.”

Following up a promise made last month, President Donald Trump has scheduled an appearance at a Nashville fundraiser for U.S. Senate candidate Marsha Blackburn in late May.

From an AP brief: A Blackburn Victory Fund invitation says Trump will be in Nashville for the May 29 event. Admission options include a private round-table with Trump for $44,300 a couple; a private photo reception with Trump for $10,800 per couple; or just the general reception, at $2,700 per couple.

In a speech to Carter County Republicans, U.S. Senate candidate Marsha Blackburn erroneously declared that her presumptive Democratic opponent, Phil Bredesen, “gave driver licenses to illegal aliens” when he was governor, reports the Johnson City Press. Democrats are using the remark to bash Blackburn.

“Many times Phil acts like a Republican,” said Colleen Conway Welch, a Republican who co-hosted a Bredesen fundraiser in her home in Nashville. “He’s a centrist. He was a good mayor and a good governor.”

The lobbyistDavid Carmenand Elizabeth Carmen will host a fundraiser for Rep. Marsha Blackburn(R-Tenn.), who’s running for Senate, at their home in the Palisades neighborhood of Washington on Tuesday evening, according to an invitation obtained by PI. The twist: One of the co-hosts is Marcelo Claure, the new executive chairman of Sprint and the chief operating officer of SoftBank, which owns most of Sprint.

In an op-ed piece published by the News Sentinel and passed along to media via email by the Marsha Blackburn campaign, former Gov. Don Sundquist expands somewhat on his earlier endorsement of Blackburn’s campaign for the U.S. Senate while bashing the ‘intellectually dishonest” Phil Bredesen. The Democratic party, meanwhile, is striving to undermine the endorsement.

A lengthy Politico report on the Bob Corker-Phil Bredesen-Marsha Blackburn melee includes multiple comments from Republican politicians; some on the record, some off. Among those identified is U.S. Rep. Diane Black, a candidate for governor, who deems Corker’s behavior “inappropriate” and says “he should just sit back and be quiet.” Corker says “I guess I will.”

Eighteen Republican U.S. House members – including three from Tennessee – have signed a letter formally nominating President Donald Trump for the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to get North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to give up his nuclear weapons program, according to ABC News.

Rep. Luke Messer of Indiana, who is running for a U.S. Senate seat in his home state, drafted the letter. Five other signers are also running for higher office, including Tennessee Reps. Marsha Blackburn, also running for the Senate, and Diane Black, a candidate for governor. The third Tennessee signee was Rep. Scott DesJarlais.

Stuart Rothenberg, editor of the national political newsletter Inside Elections, expresses doubt in a Roll Call article about Democrat Phil Bredesen’s prospects for defeating Republican Marsha Blackburn in Tennessee’s U.S. Senate race despite polls showing the former governor with an edge in the race so far. An excerpt: